“What Successful People Do Before Breakfast” – My Five Commitments, Travel or Not.

It is Sunday night and I just finished listening to the book What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam. I purchased this book looking for solid ways I could get my days off to a great start. With traveling so much, often working another country’s hours even when I am back in the US for meetings and calls, this is an area I definitely want to focus on to improve both my personal and business success.

My current morning routine tends to revolve around rising so that I have just enough time to do what I have to do: coffee, shower, read email, maybe take my vitamins and maybe eat breakfast, get to meetings/work/airport. No slack time and certainly no relaxed time.

Getting consistent with a morning ritual is a challenge when some days have early flights, early meetings, or a late-night flight arrival the night before. Can you hear my excuses starting already?

My overall goals are to be healthy and fit, organized and productive, with a relaxed mind. Quality time with my family in a beautiful home, with a good financial plan in place, and oh, let’s not forget travel, are also in this list.

As for practical changes I commit to beginning tomorrow morning, which will help me move towards these goals:

Work out at the beginning of my day. Instead of wasting valuable minutes coming up with all the reasons why I can’t do this (hotel gym isn’t open; hotel doesn’t have a gym; early morning meeting, etc.), I commit to doing something upon getting out of bed each morning. Whether this be yoga stretches, exercises with bands, lunges and squats in my hotel room, or a good workout at the gym… something each morning; no matter what!

Determine my top 5 goals for the day. I commit to writing these down, whether it is in Evernote, on hotel notepaper or an email to myself. In fact, I will copy these into an email and send it to my husband for more accountability. I will ensure my goals are actionable and achievable within the day, such as “write an article on How to travel when you have a cold” vs. “implement a social media strategy.”

I commit to determining these goals and reflecting on the day ahead by allowing myself 15 minutes to sit and relax with a cup of coffee or tea while doing this. No more having my phone nearby for note taking and email replying while I’m drying my hair, listening to the morning news and downloading updates to apps.

I also commit to identifying one thing, no matter how minor, that I can delegate to someone else (namely my assistant). My nature is to want to do everything and to do it all myself … both are impossible.

Last by not least, I commit to taking better care of my health. Eat a protein breakfast and take my vitamins. Simple enough. Just do it.

When I realized the book wasn’t going to give me solid how-to ways with action steps to get my mornings going, I was disappointed. I wanted a checklist. (I’m the queen of checklists!) Though what the book did provide me with is how to think through the excuses and negotiate a win-win for the areas important to me. And this the book successfully accomplished as you can see by my commitments which I now publicly share.

As for my plans in working on the rest of my goals, those will remain for another day. No overcommitting right now. The five items above are a great start and are realistic and achievable no matter if I am at home with my family or alone in a hotel room; no matter if I have an early flight or a mid-morning meeting.

To receive a free copy of our ebook, 70 Secrets to Safe Travel — Because Your Life Can Change in a Heartbeat, and for more travel savvy info to help you travel smarter, safer and with more enjoyment, visit SmartWomenTravelers.com and PearlsofTravelWisdom.com.

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About The Author

Carol Margolis is a travel-loving consultant, speaker, trainer and innovator who works with corporate travel management, HR departments, meeting planners and the travel industry -- and, of course, travelers!
She offers tactics and tools to help travelers who want simple, fun strategies for traveling smart. Carol is a frequent TV and radio guest, appearing on Good Morning America, CNN, Fox TV, in USA Today, New York Times, Reuters and much more.
Follow her at both SmartWomenTravelers.com and BusinessTravelSuccess.com. .

3 Comments

Susan Breckenridge

Whether I am traveling or at home I always do a few things in the morning to start my day:
1. Drink lots of water. It has multiple health benefits and just makes me feel good.
2. Yoga. Gets the kinks out from lugging luggage, sleeping funny on the plane, and just makes me feel good.
3. Sit and have coffee. I try to build in at least 10 minutes to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee, mentally lay my day out, answer an email or play Words With Friends.
4. Contact someone I love. Traveling a lot can make me feel lonely, so I’ll text my son, email a friend, or comment on FaceBook. Just so I don’t feel so far away.
Susan

Thanks for sharing your morning rituals Carol. Having these steadfast rules helps a lot when you have a busy day ahead. Developing these habits and making them routine makes sure you’ll stay on course. I do three things every morning – drink a large glass of water, write down 5 things that I’m grateful for, and write down 3 goals for the day. I like your fitness routine and will try to add that one – without excuses. They are so easy to find.